I and my buddy had two long sessions yesterday on 5’.
I rode 250HA/40 with fixed pitch prop and loved the setup. Tiny rolling waves made it more fun.
Buddy rode 170 Fish -> 170HA/40 -> 170HA/25 -> 250HA/40 -> 250HA/25 - all with folding prop for side-by-side comparison.
His comments were
170 Fish - hard to start, not fun
170HA/40 - great fast setup
170HA/25 - more loose feeling, needs more speed to fly
250HA/40 - great setup, the easiest of these all
250HA/25 - more loose feeling, a bit more playful
In a second session he rode 250HA/40 with fixed prop and said it’s as easy, except you can’t just drop the throttle.
My feeling was the fixed prop gives more instant response. Maybe it’s just the learning phase, I’m sure I’ll be riding folding prop normally. The HA wing and folding prop result in 2 hours of riding per battery charge.
5’/250HA/40 was just fine and easy compared to my last good session on 6’2”/250surf/50, maybe a tad more challenging but just fine for 215 lbs and bulky wetsuit for cold water. It just wanted to put knees further forward when starting
I never thought I’d be hoping for offshore winds which clean the break